CRAZY GAME!!! What a fun game to watch... well let me rephrase that. What a fun last 3 innings to watch. Santana came out looking like the Mets ace as he threw 6 1/3 innings of 1 run ball. Unfortunately for Santana though... he couldn't finish the game and left in the 7th, handing the ball to the bullpen. The bullpen did it's job for the Mets until the 9th when Billy Wagner came in to save the game with a 4-2 lead. The Astros came alive in the 9th, loading the bases to bring up Geoff Blum as the pinch hitter. Then the craziness starts. Blum hits a line drive single into left field which Loretta holds up on making sure it's not caught in the air, but Pence knows it's dropping and is coming all the way... when Loretta realizes it's going to drop, he puts on the jets but stumbles allowing Pence to get right on his heels... the throw from left field is pretty good, getting to home before Loretta or Pence, but Loretta plows over the Mets Catcher Castro, causing him to drop the ball as Pence slides in just 1/2 second later(actually looks to spike Loretta at home) to tie the game. Loretta limps off the field and Castro leaves the game with what is later said to be an ankle injury. The Astros scored 2 runs off of Wager to give him a blown save as well as the 1st runs against since July 7th.
**Note, Cooper said after the game that Loretta was fine, just a little banged up.
The 9th ended with a 4-4 tie as the Astros gave the ball to Valverde who gave up a hit, but struck out 2 to get through the 10th. In the Astros half of the 10th, Berkman Singles and then moves to 3rd on a single by Lee and then is driven in by a line drive sacrifice fly by Darin Erstad to win the game.
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Once again the bullpen comes in and does it's job tonight. Oswalt pitched 6 innings and left the game with a loss in hand, but the bullpen came in and finished off the game, pitching 4 scoreless innings and allowing just 2 hits while striking out 4. Hawkins made his Astros debut tonight, throwing 2/3rds of an inning and striking out 2 and walking 1. Hopefully he continues that type of production. Geary pitched a perfect 8th and 9th and then allowed Valverde to come in during the 10th to earn the win.
Looking at the stat sheet, the Astros didn't look very exciting offensivly. Matsui was 2-5 with 2 runs scored and an RBI and Lee was 2-5 with an RBI... other than that you have a couple guys with a hit... but nothing special. Obviously, watching the game, the offense seemed much more exiting. The Astros walked 4 times today and only struck out 5 times... I'm pretty happy with that... and I'm happy to get the win.
FSN gives Pence and Loretta the player of the game award... kinda crazy that they were a combined 2-6 on the night... but I'm sure the crazy play at home padded the ballot box some.
On another note... maybe I'm reading too much into this... tell me what you think.
Bourn said the ankle just takes time to heal, and he does not want to rush the process.
But Cooper said it is about time for Bourn to reappear in the lineup.
"I thought he'd be ready by now," Cooper said. "After Wednesday we said, 'Well, we'll give him 48 hours, and he should be ready to go.' Yesterday I had him in there, he came out and tried it and said no-go."
Bourn was out of the lineup again Saturday, although Cooper said he could be used if absolutely necessary. But the quick baserunner would only be able to run at 85 to 90 percent of his speed.
"You're talking about a young player who is trying to feel his way through a little bit," Cooper said. "It's a little bit of learning to play through some of that [pain]."
From here.
Is that a verbal jab at Bourn?